841 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David answered and said, behold the king's spear!.... And which perhaps was his sceptre, and which David therefore would not keep, lest it should be thought or said that he had deprived him of an ensign of his royalty, and be interpreted as a token of his design to seize his crown and throne: and let one of the young men come over and fetch...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord render to every man his righteousness, and his faithfulness,.... Or recompense every man that deals justly and faithfully with others, as he had done with Saul; or the Lord, who is just and faithful to his promises, reward the men that act the good and upright part; and this was a prayer of faith; for David doubted not that, though Saul...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes,.... Or "magnified" (y); and made great account of, as being the life of the king of Israel, and the Lord's anointed, and so spared: so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord; he does not say in the eyes of Saul, as it should have been by way of retaliation, and as it might...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Saul said to David, blessed [be] thou, my son David,.... He desired God to bless him, and pronounced him blessed himself, believing he would be a happy and prosperous man: thou shall both do great [things]; he had done great things already, in slaying Goliath, obtaining victories over the Philistines, and escaping the hands of Saul, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 27 David, fearing he should perish by the hand of Saul at one time or another, went into the land of the Philistines, which Saul hearing of, sought no more after him, 1 Samuel 27:1; and finding favour in the eyes of the king of Gath, desired a place in his country might be given him to reside in; and accordingly Ziklag...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David said in his heart,.... Within himself, and to himself; while he was pondering things in his own mind, and considering the circumstances in which he was, and things appearing, very gloomy to him, he falls into a fit of unbelief and thus addresses himself: I shall now one day perish by the hand of Saul; for though he was returned to his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David arose,.... From the place where he was: and he passed over; the borders of land of Canaan: with the six hundred men that [were] with him; having neither lost any, nor had any added to him, since he was at Keilah, 1 Samuel 23:13; unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath; whether this was the same Achish David was with before, 1 Samuel...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David dwelt with Achish at Gath,.... The metropolis of his kingdom, called, 1 Samuel 27:5, the royal city: he and his men, every man with his household; or family; which they brought with them, to secure them from the malice of Saul; who in their absence might have destroyed them, as being the families of traitors and fugitives, and might be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath,.... Who very probably had his spies out to watch his motions, and report to him where he was, and what he was doing: and he sought no more again for him; by which it seems as if he would have sought after him again, had he continued in the land of Israel; but now being gone, and in an enemy's...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David said unto Achish,.... After he had been some time with him: if I have now found grace in thine eyes; or was in favour, as he thought himself to be, by various instances of respect shown him: let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: he does not ask for a city or town, but a place in one of them, though...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day,.... A city which in the division of the land was given to the tribe of Judah, and after that to the tribe of Simeon, Joshua 15:31; though it seems not to have been possessed by either of them, at least not long, but soon came into the hands of the Philistines, who kept it till this time, and now it returned to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines,.... At Gath and Ziklag: was a full year and four months; or "days and four months"; days being sometimes put for a year, Judges 17:10; though some interpret it not of a year, but of some few days out of the fifth month, besides the four months; so Jarchi and Kimchi; and Josephus (h)...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David and his men went up,.... From Ziklag, where they dwelt: and invaded the Geshurites; some of the old inhabitants of the land of Canaan, the remains of the Amorites, whose land was given to the half tribe of Manasseh, but could never be expelled; and therefore David had a just right to invade them, and, if he could, either expel or destroy...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David smote the land,.... In which the above mentioned people dwelt, that is, the inhabitants of it: and left neither man nor woman alive; for these being the old Canaanites and Amalekites, according to the law of God were not to be spared, but utterly destroyed; which may be observed to remove the charge of cruelty that might be brought...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Achish said, whither have ye made a road today?.... Or whither had they rushed in, or poured in and spread themselves? or where had they made their excursion to fetch in the prey and booty they now brought? and David said, against the south of Judah; he meant against some people that lay to the south of the land of Judah, without it; but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring [tidings] to Gath,.... How David had fallen upon these people, and destroyed great numbers of them, and carried off their substance; which would have given great offence to Achish, and caused him to have driven him out of his country once more; though Abarbinel is of opinion that these...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Achish believed David,.... As he would have him understand his story; imposing upon him by ambiguous terms, insinuating he had been against the southern parts of Judah, when he had been against foreign nations that lay to the south of Judah: saying, he hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; they shall never forgive him the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 28 The Philistines gathering together, to fight with Israel, Saul trembled at it, not being able to get any answer from the Lord about it in any way whatever, 1 Samuel 28:1; upon which he applies to a woman that had a familiar spirit to bring him up Samuel, which she did, 1 Samuel 28:7; and what passed between Saul and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass in those days,.... That David was in the country of the Philistines: that the Philistines gathered their armies together: out of their five principalities or lordships: for warfare to fight with Israel; with whom they were continually at war, and though sometimes there was a cessation of arms, yet never any settled peace; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And David said to Achish, surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do,.... By which he would have Achish understand, and so he did, that he would exert himself in favour of the Philistines, and against Israel, and do great and brave things, of which Achish would be, made sensible, through his heroic courage and valour; though he meant rather...